Taxpayers shell out £8,000 a day in compensation for prisoners

Taxpayers are shelling out more than £8,000 a day in compensation payments for prisoners, official figures revealed last night.

The bill has doubled in just twelve months and now stands at an astonishing £3,286,521.

The vast bulk of the payments are for medical negligence, assaults by prison staff and for inmates accidentally held beyond the end of their sentence.

Safely behind bars? Not if the amount of compensation paid out to prisoners is anything to go by. £8,000 a day is shelled out for medical negligence, assaults by prison staff and for inmates accidentally held beyond the end of their sentence

But the real cost to taxpayers will be much higher as the figures excludes the cost of providing legal aid for prisoners to help them bring their cases.

Critics said the sums were a ‘disgrace’ and attacked the 'compensation culture'.

Emma Boon, campaign manager for the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: ‘Prisoners are already detained at great expense to law-abiding taxpayers.

‘It is a disgrace that criminals are able to claim so much cash from compensation claims, especially at a time when budgets are already stretched.

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‘Sadly there is a compensation culture these days, but instances of prison officers assaulting inmates cannot be tolerated and the Ministry of Justice and prison staff need to do all that they can to keep these compensation payments to a minimum, and protect taxpayers' money from unnecessary claims.’

The controversy over compensation for prisoners was reignited in July when it emerged Soham killer Ian Huntley is suing for up to £95,000 in damages for being attacked in jail.

Huntley launched legal proceedings against the Prison Service for failing in its duty of care after he had his throat slashed by an inmate in March.

Compensation culture: In July it emerged that Soham killer Ian Huntley is suing for up to £95,000 in damages for being attacked in jail

He is believed to be seeking £20,000 for his injuries and a further £60,000 in punitive damages because he says the authorities should have done more to protect him.

There is also concern over prisoners receiving help to sue for compensation for being kept in jail too long. Prisoners can get £110 for each day they are wrongly kept in beyond the end of their sentence.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act revealed a total of £259,943 was paid out for ‘unlawful detention’ last year.

Another £534,628 was paid out for compensation for allegations of assaults by prison staff and £205,153 for slips, trips and falls.

The vast bulk of the payments were for medical negligence and totalled £1,609,250.

Of the 333 individual payments last year, 322 were settled before they reached court.

The Ministry of Justice also lost 11 court cases and was ordered to pay out a further £28,629.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘Like all citizens it is open to prisoners, staff and third parties to pursue civil litigation claims for any perceived wrongdoing.

‘Each litigation case is dealt with on its merits and, so far as the evidence allows, all claims are robustly defended. In fact the Prison Service defends significantly more civil claims than are settled.’